Kelowna dancer lands spot at Irish festival

Local Irish dancer, Lauren Maier, has been showcasing her talent around the world for years, but her newest venture requires some help from the community.

Maier, who just finished her first year of schooling at UBCO, has been accepted to the 2018 Fusion Fighters Dance Fest in Limerick, Ireland, and as one of the first 10 official cast members, has a chance to win a scholarship to help with the heavy costs associated with the trip through an online video competition.

“It would be amazing to have half my costs paid for,” said Maier. “Because I’m paying for the whole trip myself, and I’m going no matter what, but it would make it a lot easier being a university student, and being able to afford that would be awesome.”

Candidates create a video, which is then posted to Facebook, and have two weeks to get as many views as possible. The candidate with the highest number of views wins the scholarship.

“It would be really cool to have that exposure for Kelowna and the Okanagan,” said Maier’s dance instructor, Megan Harper. “With a local girl reaching her dreams of going to dance in Ireland at this camp, and to have that financial support to do so would be wonderful to see.”